As concern over energy conservation and the environmental effects of power generation grows, there is increased interest in teaching the public about electricity, electrical safety, and the mechanics of power generation. Thus, many schools, museums, and utilities now feature exhibits on these subjects. These may simply take the form of “passive” displays which, for example, simply illustrate in textual or graphic form the power consumed by everyday electrical appliances—for example, the energy consumed by (and the cost of) running incandescent lights, fluorescent lights, stoves, microwave ovens, etc. Such displays may be viewed by multiple people at the same time, but because of their lack of interactivity, they fail to capture the attention of many viewers. Other displays may be more “active,” such as desktop displays used in the classroom which allow users to construct circuits with LEDs, small incandescent bulbs and motors, resistors, capacitors, etc. to learn basic principles of electricity. Here the displays capture the viewers' attention, but multiple sets of displays are needed to allow multiple users to participate. Thus, in both of the foregoing cases, the displays have limited utility since they cannot easily be transported from place to place—e.g., to different classrooms, museums, and exhibitions and other public events—and/or require significant setup and teardown efforts even when they can be transported.
Also, in both of the foregoing cases, while the displays can illustrate the cost of electrical power to some degree, these teachings do not carry significant impact since the displays simply use batteries, electrical wall sockets, or other readily-available power supplies, which do little to impart appreciation of the true effort needed for electrical power generation. The electricity utilized by the displays simply appears and is ready for immediate use, without any thought about its source or effort on the part of the participants.